Composting wasted food is one of those things that we all know is good for the environment, and most of us do it willingly, but it can also be kinda gross. If you leave your bin in the kitchen for too long it gets stinky and becomes a incubator for maggots. This is par for the course, though, as far as composting goes. So if your goal is to get people to do more of this, how do you overcome the unpleasant side of what you’re asking them to do? Our answer came in a client/agency/partner brainstorm, when someone said “what about talking worms?” Anthropomorphizing compost critters turned out to be a really great way to connect our audience to what’s really going on inside those compost bins, and not only make them feel better about it, but drive folks who weren’t already doing it to start.

So that’s how Phil, Wendy and Chad were born. Through the scriptwriting process, we realized that we had a star on our hands, and his name was Chad. He’s hapless, harmless, and just kinda dumb, but we love him all the more for it. We brought him and his friends to life though illustration, and a rather simple animation style which leaned on subtle movements and facial expressions. This was a decision made partially due to budget constraints, but sometimes (and definitely in this case) it’s all you need to make effective creative. These spots ran through paid social media, and other digital channels